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Percy Baxter students teach Pat Hardy students through puppets

Percy Baxter Grade 7 drama students, Isabelle Emel (l) and Montana Blackstock (r), get ready for the a puppet play the Team For Success is putting on for the kindergarten students at Pat Hardy Primary School on Jan. 28 and 29. The Team for Success is a mental health capacity building project funded by Alberta Health Services in collaboration with Alberta Education.
Barry Kerton | Whitecourt Star

The Grade 7 drama class and the Team For Success group at Percy Baxter School wants to pass a message on to the students at Pat Hardy Primary School and they want to do it through theatre.

This week Percy Baxter Grade 7 students will be visiting Pat Hardy Primary School putting on a special puppet show designed and written for the kindergarten students of Pat Hardy.

Maureen Kendall, Team For Success project co-ordinator said the play is based on the ‘turtle technique’, which is used to help resolve schoolyard conflicts between students.

“The turtle technique teaches children to step back and go into their shell when they start getting angry by something another person or student is doing.”
The idea, Kendall said, is by having a student stop and go into their shell they will give them the extra time to think about what the best thing to is, instead of just reacting and possibly escalating the situation.

Kendall said the students were given some resource material by Pat Hardy Primary School Assistant Principal, Jackie Mines, on which to base their presentation, but after that they were free to create the script and characters for the play.

After the Percy Baxter drama students finish their performances, Kendall said they will leave the puppets behind as a gift to the kindergarten students at Pat Hardy School so they can put on their own plays and find new ways to use the turtle technique.

“The students are so excited about being able to put on the play for the Pat Hardy kindergarten students. And we love the idea of having the older students come in and help teach the younger students.”

Mines, said by teaching the turtle technique, the drama students at Percy Baxter are helping Pat Hardy in its efforts to be proactive when dealing with challenging behaviours.

Earlier in the year, Pat Hardy brought in a RCMP constable to help introduce the school’s students to the W.I.T.S Program. W.I.T.S is a bullying prevention program designed for school aged children from Kindergarten to Grade 3, put on by the RCMP in conjunction with the schools.
W.I.T.S stands for Walk away, Ignore, Talk it out and Seek Help, which Mines said is very similar to the turtle technique.

“If you ignore or walk away, you are practicing the turtle technique,” Mines said.

By turtling, students are giving themselves a chance to calm down and think about their choices.

“They have the choice to hit that person, explain what they are doing or a number of different actions. By giving them a ‘stop’ moment they can think about what is the best thing for them to do.”

Mines said the puppet shows the Percy Baxter students are going to put on is also an excellent learning opportunity for the junior high school students.

Not only are the Percy Baxter students learning how to write, plan and produce a stage presentation suitable for young children, they are learning the same lesson as their audience.

“Learning to stop, calm down and taking a look at your options before making a decision is something you are never too old to learn.”